Sounds like itís poll time. Is it even possible for a Block 4 (or 5) F9 to loft a Lunar XPrize to the moon? If so thatís my bet...

Unless some mysterious benefactor has swooped in, none of the xprize competitors seem to have enough money to do this. That's the main mystery of this launch, if you assume it isn't government; what kind of company is low-profile enough to do all this quietly, while having put together enough cash?

Sounds like itís poll time. Is it even possible for a Block 4 (or 5) F9 to loft a Lunar XPrize to the moon? If so thatís my bet...

Unless some mysterious benefactor has swooped in, none of the xprize competitors seem to have enough money to do this. That's the main mystery of this launch, if you assume it isn't government; what kind of company is low-profile enough to do all this quietly, while having put together enough cash?

SpaceX.

And what would SpaceX gain by doing such a thing while further delaying the flights of their other customers? Splitting the X-Prize money with the payload team wouldn't get them enough to pay for the expendable parts of the launch vehicle.

We may need to carve off a thread for the speculation posts. Unless you have a concrete theory with some analysis behind it, maybe just wait and see? "it feels like X" posts may not be that helpful. Several mods have now said to curb the speculation... Please?

"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

SpaceX shall be aware that future non-federal launches will be considered on a case-by-case basis, especially for requests in the band 2200-2290 MHz, and SpaceX shall have no expectations that future launches will be approved.

SpaceX shall be aware that future non-federal launches will be considered on a case-by-case basis, especially for requests in the band 2200-2290 MHz, and SpaceX shall have no expectations that future launches will be approved.

I really donít why you think this is going to be a commercial satellite when it has a strong smell of a classified government launch.

Because your "smell of a classified launch" is lack of information and a customer rapidly emerging wanting secrecy. The reddit user ( which Chris verified at least part of his story) has repeatedly mentioned that the customer is doing this for revenue, a government-associated flight would already have most of its costs paid for upfront.

Also, why do I have to think what everyone else does, especially in a story bereft of concrete details?

"Cooper said this yearís first launch of a prototype satellite would be followed early next year with a second prototype launch, followed by a demonstration period before the start of the operational launch campaign in 2019."

I thought I read that a number of the satellite HW engineers had been brought over from the MSFT 'Zune' team... Not to imply any similarity in the name since that would be speculation and might get this post booted.

"Cooper said this yearís first launch of a prototype satellite would be followed early next year with a second prototype launch, followed by a demonstration period before the start of the operational launch campaign in 2019."

I thought I read that a number of the satellite HW engineers had been brought over from the MSFT 'Zune' team... Not to imply any similarity in the name since that would be speculation and might get this post booted.

SpaceX does not have their FCC permits for either the experimental or operational satellites. Their constellation is being registered in the U.S. so they need those to launch. They also wouldn't waste an entire F9 flight on a single 500kg internal test satellite. Please, start thinking whether something is remotely reasonable before posting.

We may need to carve off a thread for the speculation posts. Unless you have a concrete theory with some analysis behind it, maybe just wait and see? "it feels like X" posts may not be that helpful. Several mods have now said to curb the speculation... Please?

Yeah, we can use this thread for pre-confirmation and then when confirmed we can have the started Discussion and Update threads.

My feeling (as unlikely as many have said it seems) is that it is an LEO technology test-bed for some new commercial space application. Given the cloak-and-dagger, there is probably a significant issue of patented technologies and possibly even stock market issues that would render pre-launch publicity on the nature of the demonstration potentially stock manipulation.

GLXP would be screaming from the rooftops if the 11/10 launch was one of their competitors and I couldn't see Bigelow being quiet on a 'Genesis-III' mission.

Logged

"Oops! I left the silly thing in reverse!" - Duck Dodgers

~*~*~*~

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The time for words has passed; The time has come to put up or shut up!DON'T PROPAGANDISE, FLY!!!

[Ė]old_sellsword 1 point 15 hours ago Was this contract something that happened recently, or has it been confirmed for a while but the public just didnít know about it?

[Ė]ASTRALsunder 1 point 2 hours ago That I do not know, my friend. I did not press my sources for more details. The extent of my knowledge is the flight is named ZUMA/Zuma and the NET is November 15th. Customer contract details and what kind of satellite I do not know. They just emphasized the on-time part of the launch, it would be out of 39A, and on a new booster.My friends did say CRS-13's new NET is December 4th out of LC-40. SpaceX pitched the idea of a flown booster for CRS-13 to NASA and they will give them an answer in early November.

Millennium Space System's website has said for some time that a sat using their Aquila M8 bus of around three tons is 'scheduled to fly in 2016 as a GEO platform'; as far as I know this has not yet happened. This would seem like a good candidate as bus for this launch. If we do assume the launch is ultimately for the US government, a delivery-on-orbit contract through Aquila could still jive with the statements about a commercial customer.